The modern and traditional
Snow Country was written during a period of Japanese militarism, and a number of modern inventions can be seen in the novel, which include a train, a snowplow, and an electric avalanche warning system. Kawabata saw no conflict between the modern and the traditional, but saw modern inventions as part of the traditional Japan. This can be seen in the train scene, at the very beginning of the novel, during which the protagonist observes the beautiful eyes of the female passenger. The electric light of the train thus facilitates traditional esthetic expression. Various modern inventions are treated as a normal part of life in the rustic onsen town.[8]
Beauty
This novel, like others Kawabata wrote, vividly depicts the psychic cost of aesthetic appreciation, as well as its effect on minds susceptible to beauty. The protagonist of the novel is often taken out of the real world and into the dream world of his own mind after witnessing beauty. Furthermore, this beauty makes the oblivious to the world around them: e.g. after observing Yoko's eyes in the train, or seeing the Milky Way during the fire at the end of the novel. This beauty often leads to Shimamura acting cold or cruel, as when he calls Komako a "good woman" after observing her in the moonlight.[9]
It can also be noted that all depictions of beauty in the novel include an element of sadness: loneliness in the beauty of nature, sadness in Yoko's beautiful voice, wasted beauty of Komako, as well as the wasted effort in an act of love.[10]
